Wednesday, June 08, 2011

57 Years

What did you do special for your birthday?

Why, I did something I've been wanting to do for years -- I took a masonry chisel and a hammer and took the first rows of tile off the island/sink in the kitchen. The activity was very satisfying, indeed.

The birthday was an incidental kind of experience; maybe I used the birthday idea to allow myself the gratification of taking more tiles off the kitchen countertops, though certainly I enjoyed the nice wishes so many people sent me.

June 8 fell in a hugely busy time in my mother's household back when I was a kid. Her greenhouse and nursery were burgeoning from mid-May until July with sales, and frankly, from mid-March with necessary duties, as she started a lot of her own plants from seed.

Dad's birthday was May 25, just two weeks before mine, so we tended to defer all birthdays until July, and just have a celebration day when we might have cake (banana cake, always the favorite) or a barbecue, or just a favorite meal. (Sauerkraut and dumplings, pot pie, a turkey with stuffing). So celebrating a birthday on a particular day still seems a bit odd to me.

When I woke up this morning, I was glad to see sun; I remembered that it was my birthday but had to pause to do the math to remember just how old I was. Do I feel 57?

How would I know, I've never been 57 before. Ask me in six months, then I might have some idea.

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About Me

Someone told me that they were bored after retirement, and so went back to work. I'm still seeking a little boredom for a change of pace, and not finding it. As Managing Editor of the ezine the Piker Press, I read a lot of great stories, meet a lot of wonderful people, and tear a lot of hair out over computer glitches. But I still try to work in horseback riding, writing books (and movie reviews), fiddling with the garden, art work, sewing, cooking, coaching NFL football from my favorite chair -- and soaking up every minute I can with my beloved husband, Bernie.